Not all
art is made for or displayed in the gallery or museum. Early examples of '
environments'
or 'situations' were made by artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Kurt Schwitters,
but since the Sixties an increasing number of artists have been working outside
the gallery, very often
making work which is
site specific,
that is, made for a particular
space and taking its meaning
from the context of that
space.
Initially
there was a desire to critique the gallery and museum systems, which were viewed
as being an integral part of the commercial art market as well as being
elite institutions.
Conceptual artists
were interested in making work which
questioned the role and function
of art in society, including its
economic value, and this very
often meant making
installation
or
performance work, which
could not be owned or sold
in the conventional way.
However,
much of this work has been documented using photography and photographic images
now have a value in the art market themselves and are often used retrospectively
in gallery exhibitions
to represent the original piece of work. In addition, many artists whose
work is about a process of
developing ideas beyond
the gallery, choose to
display the final product
as a gallery-based
exhibition.
Other artists whose work
you could
look at in relation to this area include:
Leaving
the 'white cube' of the gallery behind means that artists are not confined to
working in pristine exhibition spaces, but can explore and make work about other
public, private or commercial spaces. This means artists can reach much wider
audiences than those who have
traditionally visited galleries.
Through the creation of
public
art they can engage with
these audiences by
making work which
is relevant to people's
everyday experiences.
